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6
TIIE GARDEN ISLAND, TUE8DAY, NOV. 26, 1918
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"J-M"
Exterior
Washable Paint
Especially efficient and economical for will tcork
Sanita ry wen t hot-proof f i reproof .
A high grade cold water paint for exterior ami interior work.
Tut up in 3."0 iHimul barrels. "A reputation behind if and
approved by the National Board of Fire Underwriters.
Honolulu Iron Works Co.
Honolulu, T. H.
Order It By Mail!
Our Mail Order Department is 'excep
tionally well equipped to handle all your Drug
and Toilet wants thoroughly and at once.
We will pay postage on all .orders of 50 and
over, except the following:
Mineral Waters, Baby Foods, Glassware
and articles of unusual weight and small
value.
Non-Mailable: Alcohol, Strychnine,
Rat poisons, Iodine, Ant poison, Mer
cury Antiseptic Tablets, Lysol, Car
bolic Acid, Gasoline, Turpentine, Ben
zine and all other poisonous or in
flamable articles.
If your order is very heavy or contains much
liquid, we suggest that you have it sent by
freight.
Benson, Smith & Co., Ltd.
"Service Every Second"
Chemistry Behind the Front
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The Rexal Store
Box 426 Honolulu
Theo. H. Davies & Co., Ltd.
HONOLULU and HILO
Sugar Factors and Commission Merchants
IMPORTERS OF GENERAL MERCHANDISE
GENERAL HARDWARE
Builders' Hardware
Sporting Goods
Safes
Paints
Harness
Crockery
Fishing Tackle
Glassware
Firearms
Shoes
Refrijierators Spark l'luga
Varnishes Brushes Oils
Saddlery Hoofing Trunks
etc. etc.
GROCERIES
Fancy and Staple Lines, Feed, etc.
DRY GOODS
Toilet Supplies Stationery
Silverware
Ammunition
Flashlights
G reases
Suit Cases
etc. etc.
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INSURANCE AGENTS
Writers of Fire, Marine, Compensation, Automobile ami Miscellaneous
Insurance Policies.
AGENTS FOR
Canadian-Auatralian Royal Mail Steamship Line
Upon application information will be cheerfully furnished in regard to any
of our lines in which you may be interested.
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4
The November Atlantic contains an
Interesting and Instructive article,
with this title, by Henry P. Talbot,
professor of chemistry at the Mas
sachusetts Institute of Technology,
and one of the leading authorities of
America along these lines:
The Nitrogen
Question
"Among the various problems of
chemistry which have been sharply
emphasized by the war, none Is more
Immediately vital and insistent than
what Is known as the "Nitrogen ques
tion." We absolutely must have
nitric acid and ammonia, and these
are nitrogen compounds.
Nitric acid, in combination with
cotton, glycerine, or Toluene, produces
gun-cotton, dynamite, and T. N. T.
Without nitric acid there could be no
explosives, and the nation would be
at the mercy of its enemies.
The world's supply of nitric acid,
heretofore has come from saltpetre,
the only considerable supply of which
Is in Chile, where there are great beds
of It. However large these beds are,
they cannot last forever, and compet
ent authorities have warned the
world, before the war, that at the
rate of consumption then going on,
the supply would be exhausted In less
than a hundred years.
But the availability of this Chilian
supply depends, of course, on the con
sent of Chile and the menas and free
dom of transportation; conditions of
warfare might, and actually did
limit this source of supply.
Nitrogen for
Our Crops
Now thaf peace Is assured there will
not be the same insistent demand for
nitrogen compounds for war purposes
but the demands for agricultural pur
poses will persist and increase.
Plant life demands for its support a
certain amount of soluble compounds
of nitrogen. These exist more or less
in the soil, especially in virgin soil,
but are increasingly lacking in old,
worn out soils. The large amount of
nitrate imported to these islands
from Chile, for use on sugar lands.
and the recent anxious fear lest we
were going to be deprived of our usual
supply, are a confirmation of the vital
importance of these nitrogen com
pounds for agriculture. .
Even before there was any fore
cast of immediate war, commer.-ia;
chem.stiy wr.j 'listing aboi:1. for so.ne
Independent . iirre of mvly within
our own borders, or under our own
control.
Sources of .
Supply
We live in an ocean of atmosphere
some six or seven miles deep, com
posed very largely of nitrogen. There
is about seven tons of nitrogen over
every square yard of the earth's
surface, so that we oughtn't to have
to go to Chile for our nitrogen. The
trouble Is that the nitrogen in the
air is inactive, and needs to be "fixed"
before this great reservoir of inert
nitrogen can be drawn upon. For
this purpose two or three , different
chemical methods have been discover
ed. One, known as the Birkland
Eyde process, fixes the nitrogen of
the air by means ot an intense elec
tric flame, melts it out of the air as
it were. But this presupposes cheap
electric current In quantity, current
that is not In demand for some more
profitable use.
Such conditions are found in Nor
way, and this process is more or less
a commercial success there. It is
also used to some extent in the viciiii-
ty of Niagara Falls.
The Liquid Air
Process
Another method that is more im
mediately successful, is the liquid air
process. It is a comparatively simple
thing, by means of pressure and cold,
to reduce common air to a liquid con
dition. On the return of this to the
air condition the nitrogen boils off
first, ahead of the oxygen, and can be
thus secured almost pure. This can
be readily combined with other con
stituents to make the nitrogen com
pounds required for both military and
agricultural purposes.
The German
Process
Still another process of much signi
ficance manufactures oxide ot nitro
gen by heating a mixture of air and
ammonia; nitric acid can then readily
be made from this. This Is the pro
cess by which Germany during, the
war has made herself independent of
Chilian nitrate beds, and supplied
herself with the vast quantities ot
nitrogen compounds which were ab
solutely vital to her existence.
The Cry for
Potash
Another vital prerequisite ot agri
culture and food production, is potash.
And the potash question Is nearly as
serious as the nitrogen question.
For many years the world's supply of
potash has come from Germany,
where there are vast deposits, known
as Stassfurt Salts. With the out
break of the war this source of supply-
was of course no longer available,
and the world began to look about for
other means ot meeting Its needs.
There are certain lakes, the chief
of which is Searles Lake in Califor
nia, from the alkali brine of which
large quantities ot potash are secured,
but it is not of the best quality be
cause of an admixture ot borax. An
other source that promises large re
sults is the Portland Cement works,
from which potash can be secured as
a by-product. Still another source ot
commercial potash is the giant kelp,
a sea-plant of the Pacific Coast. This
plant Is rich in potash and when dried
and burned delivers up a goodly a
mount of the same. The burning of
waste molasses furnishes another im
portant means ot recovering potash,
as we here in Hawaii are proving to
our own satisfaction.
Substitute for
Gasoline
Among the less threatening or less
immediate problems of a chemical
nature there is that of a substitute
for gasoline. There has been a pne-
nominal increase in the consumption
of this article during the lust few
years, from seven million barrels in
1900 to forty one u:!!or.-iu 1915, and
undoubtedly much greater extrava
gance since.
It stands to reason that the supply
must be limited, and that it can't
stand such depletion indefinitely.
Ultimately, we will have to come to
the use of alcohol as a substitute,
which is entirely feasible, and thus
will be able to keep up the supply.
A notable discovery has been made
by which sawdust and similar wood
waste can be converted into alcohol.
Scarcety of
Platnum
Another problem is the threaten-
ing .scarcety of platinum. There are
certain purposes for which platinum
is absolutely essential. One of them,
of great importance, is the manufac
ture of nitric and sulphuric acids.
Platinum does not enter in, as a part,
of either of these acids but it is a
necessary adjunct, just as the minister
is a necessary adjunct to a marriage.
Platinum is also a necessary factor
in electrical appliances, as for ex
ample the ignition points of an auto
mobile battery.
Now, practically all the platinum
comes from the Ural mountains in
Russia, a source ot supply which is
now cut off from us. Until conditions
change, or until science finds some
suitable substitute for platinum, we
will have to conserve that metal very
carefully, and abstain from its use as
jewelry for personal adornment.
A single instance may be given to
illustrate the extravagant waste of
natural resources continually going on
in important industries.
Shameful
Waste
At the great smelter at Anaconda,
Montana, the sulphuric dioxide gas
which escapes from a single stack in
twenty four hours occupies a volume
of 23 million cubic feet, and weighs
2000 tons and would make over 3000
tons of concentrated sulphuric acid
daily. Incidentally the escape of gas
into the atmosphere destroys vegeta
tion utterly for miles around.
Slowly the world is waking up to
the wonder and wealth of the fairy
land of Nature by which we are sur
rounded, and also to the realization
that the chemist is the magician with
his wand who can call forth this
wealth and wonder, and make it avail
able for human use and enjoyment.
And as the world realizes this more
and more the chemist will more and
more come into his own.
Nawiliwili Garage
C. W. SPITi, Prop. '
NAWILIWILI, KAUAI TELEPHONE 494
Automobiles to all Parts of Kauai,
all hours, Day and Night
AUTOMOBILES AND LIGHT
MACHINERY REPAIRED
FORD CARS, McFARLAN, 8TANLEY STEAMER, LOCOMOBILE,
COLE, REO, CHEVROLET (except Model "490") AND 8AJ0N, also
REO, COMMERCE, LOCOMOBILE AND MORELAND TRUCKS.
We carry afeomplete stock of U. 8. L. Batteries and Battsry Farts
also Automobile and Tlrs Accessories.
A COMPLETE LINE OF FORD PARTS
Goodyear Tires and Tubes
The best in the Market for the Money.
GoOE?EAR
A gfc O N
NAWILIWILI GARAGE, Agents for Kauai.
.4.nfc- ,f, . ft t
C rillhl Hut tckifincf It Km
Silva's Toggery, Honolulu.
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ELEELE STORE
J.:i. SILVA, Prop. .
; ALWAYS LEADS INJ LOWEST PRICES ON
Dry Goods, Boots and Shoes,
Mens Furnishings, Cigars, and
Tobacco, Notions of all kinds.
MAIN STORE, ELEELE,
PHONE 72 W.
BRANCH STORE,
KALAHEO HOMESTEAD
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